Understanding
by Dreams2Paper11
Summary: "We both learned that our destiny was to destroy the world. We both didn't." Danny exhaled loudly in remorse. "My friends don't understand what it's like," he admitted, rubbing his thighs in unease. "The despair that you feel, thinking that you're not strong enough to stop it… ONE-SHOT.


**So…I'm currently fighting off a nasty bit of Writer's Block and wrote this little one-shot in an attempt to motivate myself.**

**For those reading my other stories, this is not related to Haunted Memories in any way. This takes place after the brotherhood of evil arc, but before Phantom Planet. Hope you all have a good night. Or day. Depends on where you live. **

**This is dedicated to all the people who have done fanart for Haunted Memories. **

**P.S. I don't know if this idea has ever been used before, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it hasn't. If it has…oh well. I'm too tired to deal with that right now.**

**Read and Review.**

**~(^_^)~**

It was a quiet night in Amity.

For once.

Danny turned on his back as he swooped low over the roofs of the houses, crossing his arms under his head as he contemplatively stared at the star-strewn night sky. It was a quiet night, and also a beautiful one. Almost a full moon, but not quite, and the dark expanse was clear of any clouds, allowing the pinpricks of light- stars- to shine even brighter.

As he quietly drifted along, he mentally pointed out the constellations, starting with easy ones, like the Big Dipper. He did this for a couple minutes until he grew bored of the game and sighed, flipping back over so that his stomach faced the ground. He ran a hand through his messy, snowy white hair, tinged silver by the watery moonlight. It was a nervous habit that he had started to pick up a while ago; a month or so after he had first gained his ghost half- and the powers that came with it. Danny didn't know why he felt nervous.

His grades were finally starting to improve.

He was becoming more at ease with his powers.

He had finally plucked up the nerve to ask Sam out, and she said yes.

He had acquired a hero reputation for the city.

He was happier than ever.

…Right?

Danny groaned and gripped his dazzling white locks, shaking his head, ashamed at himself. He was so ungrateful. Everything was finally running smoothly for him, and he felt… he felt…

Actually, he didn't know what he felt, and that was probably the thing that frightened him the most. He wasn't aware that he was descending to earth until his white boots scuffed the concrete of the sidewalk and he flinched, startled, stumbling forward a few paces until he had regained his balance. Out of habit, he flitted into invisibility, waiting for some rabid fangirl to jump him.

He waited a few seconds, eyes tightly closed, muscles tensed.

A soft night breeze wound its way around him, caressing his face tenderly as it played with his hair. Danny sighed, uncrossed his arms, and started walking again, head hanging.

It was a quiet night in Amity.

.

.

.

He should be sleeping. He knew that. He had school tomorrow and this temporary lull in ghost activity- as welcome as it was- would probably be over by tomorrow. He'd need his full strength to fend off all the ghost attacks.

He was restless and jumpy. His body craved action, and he drummed his fingers on the tree branch supporting him, feeling the contours and knobs and swirls in the rough bark. He wasn't used to the peace. Everything seemed…frozen, tonight. Was time still cycling on and on? Was Clockwork messing with him? He morphed his right hand back to his human half, watching the cold, pale skin as it warmed and gained color. A cheap watch appeared, loosely cinched around his wrist. He peered into its plastic face, lighting up the screen with a press of a button. 3:42, a.m.

He focused. His hand tingled and went numb, and suddenly the watch disappeared. A white blob materialized and conformed around his fingers, palm, and wrist, quickly solidifying and taking the shape of a white rubber glove. With the transformation complete, he flexed his fingers a couple times, checking to make sure nothing had gone awry. He'd been practicing switching parts of his body between his ghost and human. Surprisingly, he seemed to be doing pretty well at it.

Danny leaned slightly to his left and looked down, peering through the oak tree's branches. The ground was forty feet away, and he could make out little sharp, gray stones scattered around the massive tree's base. He wasn't worried about falling. Why should he be, when he could fly at speeds of 150 mph?

He absentmindedly picked bits of bark off the tree, holding them out in his closed hand and opening the fist, letting the fragments trickle through his fingers and fall, pattering amongst the leaves. Sam would kill him if she saw him scratching the bark off a tree, he realized with some amusement.

"So…you're Danny Phantom…"

A quiet voice, tinged with a slight rough rasp, spoke clearly. Danny gasped and jerked, slipping sideways off the bough.

Okay. He took back what he said about falling. Caught entirely off guard, he was unable to gather enough focus to will himself upright in the air. He opened his mouth to scream and choked when something wrapped snugly around his chest. Looking down, he arched a dark eyebrow in bewilderment. Black energy had encased his chest. The energy carried him upwards and deposited him back on the spot where he had been sitting. As soon as he was safely seated, it dissolved.

"I thought you could fly."

More prepared this time, Danny was able to study the voice. Low, quiet, raspy, and spoken in an unbroken monotone, though it was definitely feminine. Green energy erupted in his hands and he floated upwards so that he stood in a ready position on the branch, rocking gently on the balls of his feet.

"Who's there?" He snarled.

The leaves at the very end of the branch rustled and a black disc, made up of the same strange energy as before, appeared. A figure, clad in a deep blue, hooded robe, rose from the formation. Danny stiffened in surprise. The speaker took a delicate step forward, the motion half-concealed by the long flowing cloak.

"I didn't teleport all this way to fight you." The mysterious figure lifted its arms- thin, although possessing a decent amount of lean muscle, and covered by what seemed like black spandex- and delicately removed the hood.

She had chin-length violet hair that framed her pale face. Her eyes were heavily lidded and outlined by long black lashes, and the irises of her inexpressive eyes were deep purple; a shade much darker than Sam's. Her eyebrows were thin and naturally shaped, and her complexion was very clear, if not incredibly pale, almost gray. A red gemstone was embedded in her forehead.

She stood in silence as he scrutinized her, patiently waiting with an emotionless look plastered across her features. Danny stared through narrowed eyes, thinking he had seen this girl somewhere…

It clicked in his brain. The breath left his chest in a sharp _woosh_. "You're Raven! From the Teen Titans!"

Oh, he'd heard about them on TV, all right. They were legendary, world renowned, incredibly powerful and perfect role models, and-

Danny pushed down his inner fanboy and took a deep breath to compose himself. He coughed lightly into his hand. "Um, ahem…so, what can I help you with?"

The girl tilted her head slightly, considering him with intelligent, expressionless eyes that conveyed nothing about her intentions. "We've been expanding our ranks lately, looking for suitable teenage heroes."

_No way. No flipping way. _

She raised her arm, something yellow resting on the palm of her hand.

_A communicator!_

"You were hard to track down, and we weren't sure whether or not you were actually a hero for a little bit, but you've managed to impress us." She paused to take a breath, and, still looking very emotionless, said bluntly, "We would like to extend to you an offer to join the Teen Titans as an honorary member." She waited for some sort of reaction, but received none. Looking slightly annoyed, she pressed, "Do you accept?"

All he could do was stare at her. His heart pounded in his ears, and suddenly, he felt very unsure of himself. How was he a hero? He often blundered and made mistakes and struggled with control. A pair of soulless, terrifying crimson eyes flashed in his mind and he suppressed a shudder as he recalled his alternate future self.

"I…why?" He managed to choke out.

She arched an eyebrow. "Why not? I just told you why."

He shook his head, turning around and sitting on the branch with a heavy sigh. "No, I mean…why do you think I'm a hero?"

And it was then that he realized what he had been feeling all night.

Doubt.

She remained silent for a few seconds, and then moved to sit next to him with a barely audible sigh.

"Look, I'm the quiet, sarcastic one on the team. I'm not good with these kinds of things, but…" She hesitated, thinking, then said simply, "I was the one who convinced the others that you were a hero."

_What?_

Never mind the fact that the _Titans_ had talked about _him,_ but _Raven?_ The monotonic teen that projected the _'I really don't care'_ aura? She had come to his defense?

"You and I…we're sort of alike. The experiences we've gone through…I think that you'd understand what I'm about to tell you better than anyone else, so…just listen while I explain."

Danny nodded in acceptance and listened raptly as she began to speak in a flat, removed tone of voice. "Two years ago, my…_father_"-she seemed to struggle with that word-"came to this world, through me, with my body acting as the portal. Everyone was turned to stone."

Danny shivered slightly. He remembered that awful night clearly- coming home from the Ghost Zone after a friendly visit with Princess Dora, just to find everyone petrified as rock statues. Everything unexpectedly snapped back to normal a few hours later, but the crushing, soul-encompassing feeling of utter helplessness had branded itself permanently on his brain.

Not quite understanding what she was getting at, he waited silently for her to continue.

"I was de-aged and lost my memories and my powers. One of my teammates found me and managed to get me to remember who I was, and, empowered by their loyalty, I found the strength to defeat Trigon- my father- and change the world back to normal." She stopped, gazing up at the starry night sky.

"So…" Danny said tentatively.

"I was raised with the knowledge that I was supposed to bring about the world's end."

"Oh."

Ah, now he got it.

She turned slightly to look at him. "We were still researching you when we found a recording from a traffic cam. It had managed to tape nearly the entire fight between you and your…supposedly older self." She paused to let the words sink in.

Danny's eyes widened. _My secret!_ He couldn't remember whether he'd said anything that would reference his civilian identity during the gruesome battle…

Sensing his panic, she added, "We deleted it and all its copies before anything got out. Some police officers might have seen it before we got to it, but…they'd have no proof. And besides," a small, barely existence smile graced her pale lips, "we researched the names of the policemen who were supposed to regularly check the tapes. They're known Phantom supporters."

He breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Yeah…he- that is, my alternate self- told me that I was going to ravage the world when I grew up…" he said, and he tasted the bitterness of doubt once again. What if he still ended up as a raging monster? What if his family died and he went to Vlad and succumbed to the temptation and ripped out his ghost half and-

_Breathe, Fenton, breathe._

To hide his unease, he laughed hollowly. "Yep…great career choice. You never see 'world's destroyer' as an answer to those 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' questionnaires."

She nodded sagely in agreement. They sat in silence for a little bit, and Danny took the time to quietly marvel at the fact that he was talking to a living legend. He'd never expected this to happen, not in a million years.

Finally, Raven broke the period of silence. "We both learned that our destiny was to destroy the world. We both didn't."

Danny exhaled loudly in remorse. "My friends don't understand what it's like," he admitted, rubbing his thighs in unease. "The despair that you feel, thinking that you're not strong enough to stop it…  
he shuddered.

"I know," Raven said simply, and somehow, those two words calmed him.

_I'm not alone_, he realized._ Someone else had to bear this pain too_.

Although he would never wish the burden on anyone else, he felt slightly comforted by the fact that he wasn't its sole carrier.

Raven lifted herself off the branch and brushed bits of twigs off the front of her cloak. "I got through it because of my friends," she told him. "Just…always keep them close. They might not understand, but they can help." Danny smiled in understanding.

"I get it." He thought for a second, then added, "I guess that's why the other members of your team made you come. You…understand."

She didn't reply, but she silently held out the communicator again.

"You never answered my question."

Danny reached out a hand, faltering slightly as the doubts bombarded him once again. Then, his resolve suddenly strengthened, and his features hardened in determination.

_I am a hero. I am **destined** to be a hero. I will not destroy the world. I will not bring about its downfall. _

He gracefully took the round device from her cold hand.

"I accept."

She smiled; a real, understanding smile, and turned away, chanting a phrase underneath her breath and opening another black, swirling portal. She floated off the branch, preparing to dive in, when she paused, and turned back around.

"Oh, and welcome to the team." With that simple congratulations, she passed through the black energy and disappeared. Danny looked down at the communicator and rubbed his thumb over its shiny surface, emblazoned with a bold 'T'.

He smiled tiredly.

"Thanks," he whispered, even though he knew she couldn't hear it.

_Thanks for understanding._


End file.
